FacebookwillsoonreleaseaniOSMessengerapptouseatwork

Facebook at Work is growing. As first reported by TechCrunch, the social networking giant has just unveiled a chat app for the initiative. Work Chat has arrived for Android devices with an iOS version set to land “soon.”

Not surprisingly, Work Chat looks and feels a lot like Facebook Messenger. Users can send a message to coworkers or create a group chat with more than one person. You can also see a directory of other employees and start conversations quickly and easily. When you’re on vacation, or don’t want to be disturbed with work issues, notifications can be turned off.

The new service made its original debut with a soft launch back in January. It’s designed to compete against similar offerings like LinkedIn, Slack, and Yammer, and is based on Facebook’s own internal system that allows employees to communicate, plan, and share information.

Sometime early next year, Facebook is set to take the offering public with a freemium version.

Even though Facebook at Work looks and feels like the social network, employees can select whether they want to keep their work account separate from a personal account, or if the two should be linked.

If you’ve already joined, there is also a specific iPhone app for the service. It’s designed for the iPhone and is free on the App Store now.

I’m interested to see what else Facebook does to improve its work-based offering. Here at AppAdvice, we’ve been using Slack for work communication for a more than a year, and it’s a well thought out and implemented system. And best of all, it’s completely separate from my personal online life.